Heroes Unleashed is a mod for the original Ghost Recon that promises to turn it into “the most hardcore military shooter simulation ever made.” Developer Apex Mods began working on it in 2002 and now, in 2018, version 1.0 is finally ready to go. I haven’t played the mod myself, so I can’t comment on how successful it is in achieving its goals. But Apex Mods certainly sounds committed to the job. “The direction the series took after original Ghost Recon just saddens me, and that goes for all sequels, including the latest,” he said in a Mod DB interview. “What had started out as the epitome of a deeply engrossing gaming experience in realistic squad-based infantry combat, has turned into a shallow slugfest of superficial Hollywood action and eye candy, all for the sake of mass market appeal, all to satisfy casual gamers with the attention span of a fruit fly.” It’s interesting to hear someone refer to Ghost Recon fans as “casual,” and Apex Mods acknowledged that Heroes Unleashed can be “frustratingly difficult” at times. But that’s also the source of the entertainment, as “unfettered realism paired with deliberate tactical gameplay” leads to a degree of immersion that, in their view, simply cannot be achieved through less-demanding simulations. That commitment to fidelity is also why it took 16 years to make the thing. The weapon simulation alone “took years worth of work hours and countless iterations,” and takes into account weights, dimensions, ballistics tables, and other… [Read full story]